Native American Celts- The Blessed Blend

James "Running Bear" Reid, an Apache-Scot, and Billy "Crazy Squirrel" Merrill, Muskogee-Scot, at the Dunedin, Fl Highland Games

On right is Jane Gavula Dunlap, a Sault St Marie Chippewa-Scot (Clark) at Stone Mountain, Georgia Games with her husband, Michael S Dunlap, of Scot descent.

Coilltich and Ceiltich

When celebrating the fabulous history of the Celtic peoples in the New World, one must include the progeny of their liaisons with the Native Americans, for herein lay many of the greatest stories on this continent. The joining of these two tribal cultures results in some of the greatest warrior-heroes to walk the planet, just when their people needed them the most. The traditional powers of the Old World (Britain, Spain and France) were locked in mortal combat over the vast resources of the New World. These resources included the "Coilltich", Gaelic for the "forest-folk", the term the highlanders had for the Red Man.

From the Gaelic periodical, Cuairtear nan Gleann, 1840, translated: “There is no people on the face of this earth who, in matters of war or hunting, can surpass the Indians who inhabit the region of America not inhabited by the white people. They are now, alas! few in number compared to what they were at one time; for , as the white people become more numerous and powerful, the Indians are scourged backwards before them, from place to place; and are injured by every sort of the most merciless brutality and violence.”

“The American Indians are very refined in their language and they are eloquent and expressive in their manner of speaking.”

“It is likely that the Gaels realized that Native Americans were the disposed and disenfranchised of America in the same sense that they had become the subject race of Scotland, driven out of their home by Clearances that continued into the early twentieth century”, We’re Indians sure Enough. The Legacy of Scottish Highlanders in the United States…Michael Newton 2001

From the Emigrants Guide to North America, Robert MacDougall, 1841, in Gaelic: MacDougall describes Native Americans as people who are similar to Gaels and who deserve their admiration.“Not only are the men physically attractive according to Highland ideals of manhood, they exhibit warrior qualities, and live under the protection of leaders “just like the clan chiefs who were once among the Gaels”.

It is no wonder then, that the Highlander would leave the English on the coast of America and settle on the frontiers of the 18th century, intermingle with the tribes and settle down with the women of the Native Americans. “Such unions enabled them to enjoy better relations with their wife’s tribe, gave them a partner with the knowledge and experience necessary to survive in the wild, and bestowed full “native status” to their children on account of the matrilineal reckoning of Native American society.”

The following are some of the stories of those children, who having the bloodlines of two warrior tribes from different ends of the planet, made their indelible mark on history, for both the Coilltich and the Ceiltich...

Mike Dunlap... From the upcoming book, "New World Celts...Voyage to America"

Throughout the French and Indian War, English authorities negotiated with the Native Americans for their military assistance. While not as skilled at romancing them as their French counterparts, the English did experience some success, due partly to the influence of the Scottish Highlanders, whom the Indians viewed as being similar to themselves. Both cultures were consummate warriors and lovers of the fray, both had great respect for the orator and Chieftain, and both clan and tribe held ancient traditions in high regard. Their similarities in temperament and philosophy sometimes led the English to refer to the Scots as "cousins to the Indian." Preparing for battle had its own Highland custom... the war dance. On the left Robert Griffing shows a soldier of the 42nd Highland Regiment within the walls of Fort Ticonderoga seeking a prophecy by engaging in an ancient Highland tradition. According to clan tradition, if the dancer touches the swords beneath his feet during the dance, its a forecast of doom for the coming battle. A piper provides the tunes. An Iroquois warrior watches, waiting for the results. An amused and approving smile appears on the face of a tribal headman as he keeps time with his drum. From and for sale at: www.Terryjamesart.com

Alexander McGillivray

Hoboi-Hilr-Miko, son of a Scots trader and an Indian Princess, becomes the symbolic Chief of the Creek, Choctaw, and Seminole Tribes in the Southeast USA in 1780. 1759–93, Native American chief. He was born in the Creek country now within the borders of the state of Alabama, the son of Lachlan McGillivray, a Scots trader, and Sehoy Marchand, his French-Creek wife. Given a classical education at Charleston, S.C., he returned to his mother’s people at the beginning of the American Revolution when Georgia confiscated the property of his Loyalist father, who thereupon returned to Scotland. In the war he was a British agent, influential in maintaining Creek loyalty to the crown. At Pensacola in 1784, McGillivray, now dominant in his nation’s councils, concluded with the Spanish a treaty confirming the Creek in their lands, giving the Spanish a trade monopoly, and making him Spanish commissary. With arms provided by the Spanish, his warriors periodically attacked American frontier settlements from Georgia to the Cumberland River. In 1790, President Washington, seeking to end the depredations, invited him to a conference in New York City. McGillivray, an intelligent diplomat, accepted, meanwhile assuring Spanish authorities of his loyalty, and was well received. By the Treaty of New York (1790), the Creek acknowledged U.S. sovereignty over part of their territory, acquired lands claimed by Georgia, and agreed to keep the peace. McGillivray himself accepted a brigadier generalcy and a yearly pension. He continued in the pay of the Spanish, however; in 1792 when they increased his subsidy, he entered upon another treaty with them that practically repudiated his treaty with the Americans, and the Native American attacks were resumed. McGillivray and McQueen's

William McIntosh

c.1775–1825, Tustunugi Hutka, Native American chief, son of (Scottish) Captain William McIntosh and Senoia Henneha of the Coweta-Cussitta Towns of the Lower Creeks, was born about 1775 near Tuetumpla (now Alabama). McIntosh also spent much time with his father and stepmother in the Savannah area. It was here that he learned to read, write and speak English. He learned his business skills from his father as well. Feeling comfortable with both his mother's people and his father's people helped McIntosh to gain the confidence necessary to become a leader. His mother was of the Wind Clan, the clan from which leaders are usually chosen. McIntosh became a Micco (king) of the Lower Creek villages. That is, he was elected orator, or chief spokesman for these loosely aligned villages. White's Historical Collections of Georgia, an early Georgia history, described McIntosh as intelligent and brave. In person he was tall, finely formed, and of graceful and commanding manners. His first cousin was George Troup, who served as Governor of Georgia. Friendly to the Americans, McIntosh led the lower Creek (White Stick) against the British in the War of 1812 and was made a brigadier general. He later fought alongside Andrew Jackson against the Seminoles under McQueen. In Feb., 1825, he signed a treaty ceding the Creek lands East of the Chattahoochee River to Georgia and was shortly thereafter slain by the upper Creek, who opposed the cession. White Warrior

McIntosh, Chilly

A Creek chief. After his brother, William, was slain by Menewa for having betrayed the Creeks by "selling the graves of their ancestors," he became the head of the minority party that acquiesced in the proposed emigration to Indian Territory. As such he frequently visited Washington to treat with officials regarding the transfer of lands and acquitted himself as a capable man of business.--Stanley, Portraits Am. Inds., 13, 1852.

William Weatherford- Red Eagle

aka Red Eagle c. 1780–1824, Native American chief, b. present-day Alabama. Red Eagle, also known as William Weatherford, was born about 1780, the son of Scottish trader Charles Weatherford and a Creek chieftain's daughter. In his early thirties he became an ally of Tecumseh, and led one of the Creek factions to resist the advance of the white frontier. After an attack by white frontiersmen upon a party of Creeks returning from a trading expedition to Florida, Red Eagle assembled a force of a thousand warriors and trailed the attackers to Fort Mims, an outpost north of Mobile. On August 30, 1813, they overran the poorly defended fort and after , refusing to heed his plea for restraint ,killed about five hundred of its 550 occupants, who consisted of whites, black slaves, and Creeks loyal to the U.S. The Fort Mims massacre brought several columns of militia and regular Army troops in pursuit of Red Eagle's warriors. With Menewa and other Creek leaders, Red Eagle built a stronghold at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River. On March 27, 1814, General Andrew Jackson's forces surrounded and severely defeated the Creeks. After the battle, Red Eagle boldly entered Jackson's headquarters, surrendered, and promised that if his life was spared he would spend the remainder of it working for peace. Impressed by the man's courage and intelligence, Jackson pardoned him. Red Eagle kept his word, settled on a plantation in Monroe County, Alabama, and was accepted in the community as a man of peace and strict honor. This great American Indian leader died March 9, 1822, shortly before his people underwent their mass removal to Indian Territory.

“I am a soldier, I have done the white people all the harm I could.

I have fought them and fought them bravely. If I had an army I would yet fight!”

Chief of the Redstick Muskogee (Upper Creek) born probably at Okfuskee, about 1766, died in the Creek Nation west,--but year of death not known. He was a half-breed, whose tradition relates that his father was a Scot trader. He was noted in early life for his annual horse stealing., exploits on the Cumberland frontier in Tennessee, but seldom shedding the blood of the settlers, except when he met with resistance. He received, in consequence of these raids, the name of Hopothla, said to mean "crazy war hunter". When Tecumseh visited the Creeks in 1811, Menawa was the second chief of the Okfuskee town. He entered heart and soul into Tecumseh's schemes, influenced to this action, in a measure, by his hatred of General McIntosh, who, he knew, in case of war, would be on the side of the Americans. He fought in several battles of the Creek war, but is best known from his connection with the battle of the Horse-Shoe. In 1825, a secret council was held, in which a party of chiefs and warriors were appointed to carry into execution the national law by putting to death General William McIntosh, who, in violation of this law, had presumed to make a cession of land at Indian Springs. Menawa was one of these National executioners. In after years, he regretted his share in this affair, saying that he would freely lay down his life, if by; so doing, he could bring back to life Billy McIntosh. Menawa was opposed to the emigration of the entire Creek Nation, but wished that certain reservations, to be held in perpetuity, should be granted to such individuals as wished to remain in the ceded territory.

Jack Kinnard

The most most colorful of the characters in the lower Flint River region was the Scotch-Creek mestizo or "mixed-blood" named Jack Kinnard. Like a number of other Creek leaders in the late eighteenth century, Kinnard had a Scotch merchant father and a Creek mother. Scotch and English traders operating out of Charles Town (later Charleston, SC) often lived for awhile in Creek country while arranging for the exchange of deerskins for British manufactured goods, especially guns, ammunition, and alcohol. Some of these traders took Creek wives and produced offspring who often took advantage of their dual heritage. Since Creek society was matrilineal with property descending through the female line, the son for a Creek woman had status in American Indian society. In colonial British society, which was patrilineal, the son achieved his status through his father. In a sense then, mestizos like Jack Kinnard were the ideal intermediaries or cultural brokers between Creek and Euramerican society. In 1790, he owned over 1200 cattle and horses, and about forty black and several Indian slaves. In the 1790s he was recognized by both Creeks and Americans, as well as the Spanish in Florida, as the headman or Creek leader in the lower Flint River region. His father was probably John Kinnard, a Scot trader among the Creeks as early as 1747. His mother was apparently a Hitchiti Creek woman, for Jack was referred to on several occasions as a Hitchiti chief. The Hitchiti lived in one of the Lower Creek towns, located along the Chattahoochee River.

Billy Powell aka Osceola

1804-1838 Osceola was not born a chief nor was he ever so named by formal election. He was born in Georgia, near the Chattahoochee River, in the country of the Creeks, near Tuskogee, Alabama. His name means Black Drink Crier (Asi-YaHolo). His lineage is disputed, but biographers Hartley in 1973 and Wickman in 1991 both refer to Tom Woodward's lineage of Osceola. A Scot named James McQueen lived with the Creeks from 1716 till 1811 when he died at the age of 128. He had married a Tallassee woman and had many children, two of which were Peter McQueen (great-Uncle and chief in his own right), and Ann. Ann married a half-breed named Copinger and had a daughter named Polly. Polly Copinger then married William Powell, a Scot trader and their son was named Billy, later known as Osceola. Osceola always maintained that he was full-blooded, but that was because his mother had told him that Creek and Seminole followed Matriarchal lineage....the male did not count: " You are Muskogee because I am. I am because my mother is." In actuality, Osceola has Scottish lineage on both sides: McQueen on his mother's and Powell on his father's. The male on the mothers side is of the most influence and that was his great uncle Talmuches Hadjo aka Peter McQueen.

Elegant in dress, handsome of face, passionate in nature and giant of ego, Osceola masterminded successful battles against five baffled U.S. generals, murdered the United State's Indian agent, took punitive action against any who cooperated with the white man and stood as a national manifestation of the Seminoles' strong reputation for non-surrender. Osceola was not a chief with the heritage of a Micanopy or Jumper, but his skill as an orator and his bravado in conflict earned him great influence over Seminole war actions. Osceola's capture, under a controversial flag of truce offered by Gen. Thomas Jessup, remains today one of the blackest marks in American military history. A larger-than-life character, Osceola is the subject of numerous myths; his 1838 death in a Charleston, S.C. prison was noted on front pages around the world. At the time of his death, Osceola was the most famous American Indian. osceola2Florida Seminole Indian war

(Talmuches Hadjo) Creek Chief, born probably 1780, and on Line Creek in Montgomery County, Alabama, was the son of James McQueen and a Tallassee woman. James McQueen was a Scotchman, born, it is said in 1683, deserted from a British vessel at St. Augustine in 1710. McQueen was a prominent chief at the massacre of Fort Mims. He seems not to have been present at the battle of the Horse-Shoe. After this defeat, he and his two brothers-in-law, John and Sandy Durant, placed themselves for a short time with their people on the headwaters of Line Creek. Thence they went to Florida. General Thomas Woodward writes of meeting him and Josiah Francis at Fort Hawkins near the close of 1817. The two chiefs were there trading and their meeting with their old acquaintance, Woodward, was entirely friendly. Very soon after this, the fugitive Creeks and Seminoles were at open war against the Americans, and Peter McQueen was recognized as the head leader. The war of 1818 in Florida known in history as the first Seminole war, was fought almost solely by the friendly Indians under General William McIntosh against the Red Stick Creeks and Seminoles under Peter McQueen. There was very little fighting done by the Americans. The most notable fight was on April 12, 1818, at Econfinnah, in which McQueen was defeated with the loss of thirty-seven men killed, and six men and ninety-seven women and children capture of cattle. McIntosh's loss was three men killed and four wounded. At the close of the Florida war McQueen took refuge on a barren island. on the Atlantic side of Cape Florida, where he soon after died.

John Walker, Jr.

John Walker, Jr. and John Ross had a good deal in common. Both were Cherokee chiefs who sided with the whites during the Creek War. Both were rich ferry owners who had white fathers and Indian mothers. But their strong disagreement on the Removal question divided them and created a gap that could not be bridged. The two men clearly did not like each other. So strong was the enmity between them that Walker tried in 1819 to kill Ross with a knife in Washington, DC, where several of the tribe's most influential chiefs had assembled for treaty discussions. When Walkers son, John Walker III, was assassinated in 1834 by Ross's political supporters, the murder so intensified a tribal feud that it spanned several generations and states. Young Walker's assassination fueled the ongoing conflict and disintegration of the Cherokee Nation, driving a wedge between those supporting and those opposing removal to Arkansas. In some respects, John Walker, Jr. was symbolic of the transition, which the Chickamauga's experienced between the 1780's and 1830's. Although he had fought against the Americans when he was only fourteen years old, he later assimilated white customs. In his early years he was a follower of Dragging Canoe. He took white scalps during a raid on Buchanan Station in 1792. After the end of the Indian wars, however, he became a respectable trader, a licensed blacksmith, and an accomplished businessman. In 1819, the United States government granted Walker two 640-acre reservations; one included his home and ferry, the other included his grist and saw mills. He laid out the town of Calhoun on one of his tracts and retained several valuable lots. He may have served in the Lighthorse Guard before McMinn County was organized and he was a member of the prestigious National Council of Thirteen. During the War of 1812, he received a major's commission and he was decorated for his bravery.

"father of the Cherokees" One of the most widely known and admired persons in the province of South Carolina during the decade preceding the American revolution was Captain John Stuart, a descendant of Scotland's Royal line. Although an untitled private gentleman, he became the Royal Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Districts of North America in 1762 largely because of the most amazing example of friendship between an Indian and a white man ever recorded. He would meet and become the blood-brother of Attakullakulla, (The Little Carpenter), the beloved Peace Chief of the Cherokee Nation. There was a sincere affection between these men that endured for their lifetime. Although he had no previous experience with Indians Stuart was attracted to their way of life and was readily accepted by the fierce mountain people. A number of Cherokee warriors accompanied General Oglethorpe when he invaded east Florida in 1740 and had witnessed the bravery of the kilted warriors from over the sea, as they battled the Spanish with their deadly broadswords at Fort Mosa. The Cherokee admired the Highland Scots whom they considered fellow warriors. Some purists may be dismayed at this but it is a fact the two races had much in common. Both were mountain people with proud, independent, warrior societies who gloried in a good fight, rough games and reckless living. Both were clan societies which considered loyalty to the clan their first obligation. An Indian's insistence on vengeance for the killing of a member of his clan was perfectly understood by an 18th century Highlander with a similar custom. The Scottish Martinmas Fair held each fall, was almost identical to the Cherokee Green Corn Busk, also held each fall. Cherokees passed a newly born child through the smoke of a fire to purify it and the Scots had an identical custom. The Scots were so compatible with the Indians that after 1750 nearly all the traders among the southern Indians were Highland Scots. Because of his ability to get along with the Indians Stuart handled all liaison with them and traded for provisions for the garrison. On January 5, 1762, Stuart was appointed Royal Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the Southern Districts of North America. Stuart held office for 18 years, during which he had a harmonious relationship with the Commanders in Chief and Ministers under whom he worked. At a time when many Royal officials considered their office mainly as a means to advance their own fortunes. Stuart's tenure was one of the few bright spots of the English administration of her American colonies. He was a consummate diplomat and truly devoted to his savage charges, their welfare was always his foremost concern. The southern Indians in turn loved and trusted their "Beloved Father," a title of great respect given him by the Cherokees.

While serving at Loudoun - according to Cherokee legend - Stuart took a Cherokee maiden, Susannah Emory, as his consort. Susannah was the three quarter white, grand daughter of Cherokee trader Ludovic Grant, a transported Jacobite taken at Preston in 1715 and sent to South Carolina to serve a 7 year indenture.

Susannah had a son by Stuart who was called Oo-no-dutu (Bushyhead) as Stuart was , because of his shock of bushy, red-gold hair, typical of the Stuarts. This son, known only by his Indian name, remained among the Indians and married Nancy Foreman, the daughter of a Scottish trader and a Cherokee woman. They had a son who was called Jesse Bushyhead and he became the progenitor of a long line of Bushyheads.

Rev. Jesse Bushyhead, a grandson of the Scot captain and his Cherokee wife. Young Jesse had been brought up within the culture of the Indians but at the same time subjected to the white man's civilization. He attended mission schools and then a theological seminary, where he was ordained a Baptist minister and served his own people as a missionary. He was also a gifted interpreter and became a leader among the Cherokees in their struggle against the white man's intrusion.

In late 1838, the Rev. Bushyhead gathered his family and followers together and started out "on the trail where they cried"

Dennis Bushyhead Oldest son of Jesse. In November 1871 he was elected treasurer of the Western Cherokee nation, held the office four years, and was re-elected in 1875 for the following four years. In August 1879, Mr. Bushyhead was elected Principal Chief of the Cherokees, and was re-elected in 1883 for the four years following. In 1889 and 1890 ex-Chief Bushyhead was elected Delegate to Washington, and in November of the latter year was one of the three commissioners who treated with the government in the sale of the Western Reservation.

Ross, whose name in Cherokee is Kooweskoowe , 1790–1866, Native American chief, b. near Lookout Mt., Tenn., of Scottish and Cherokee parents. He was educated at Kingston, Tenn., and in the War of 1812 served under Andrew Jackson against the Creeks. Elected principal chief of the eastern Cherokee in 1828, Ross struggled valiantly to hold the ancestral lands of his people but was unable to withstand the constant pressure of the state of Georgia for removal. In a treaty (1835) of questionable validity, a small minority of the Cherokee ceded the lands and moved west. Ross and the majority refused to acknowledge the cession, but resistance was unsuccessful, and in 1838–39 he led them on the long, hard journey to present-day Oklahoma. Thousands died on the trip, known in Native American lore as the “trail of tears.” From 1839 until his death Ross was chief of the united Cherokee nation (the western Cherokee had migrated at the beginning of the century). (Columbia Encyclopedia) Chief John Ross Chief from 1828-1866.

Duncan Macdonald

Half Scot and half Nez Perce, Duncan was descended from the MacDonald's of Glencoe. Unfortunately he experienced a similar tragedy when he helped guide White Bird's breakaway when Chief Joseph was caught by US troops near the Canadian border.

Angus MacDonald was born in 1816 near Loch Torridon, Scotland and came to America to work in the fur trade in 1838. He could speak several Native American languages and in c. 1840 married the sister of a chief of the Nez Perce. He was in charge of the Fort Colvile trading post (in modern Washington State) of the Hudson's Bay Company from 1852 to 1872 and was one of the last of the Chief Traders of the Hudson's Bay Company to operate within the territory of the United States. One of the children of this union was Duncan MacDonald, born in 1849. Although Duncan could speak Gaelic, as well as English and Salish, he came to consider himself to be a Nez Pierce "Indian." As he wrote himself:

"I have learned to have a thorough understanding of Indian things. Today I think of and view things about me with Indian eyes."

Duncan determined to let the outside world know the story from the native point of view. Combining his skills as a storyteller, a Nez Pierce tradition-bearer, and a literate English-speaker, he wrote many articles for newspapers which brought the brutal treatment of his kinsmen to the attention of the American public. In 1878, Duncan undertook a lengthy journey to visit White Bird, living on Sitting Bull's camp outside of American jurisdiction, in Alberta.

Duncan recorded the last texts documented from White Bird before he died, just months later, telling his own version of the fighting of 1877, and the origins of that conflict. Duncan turned these into articles for The New Northwest, although not everyone was happy about these alternative interpretations appearing in print:

"I made many enemies among the whites, because I corrected them about their stories." From saorsa media

Mary Musgrove, Queen of the Creeks

1700-1763 Mary Musgrove, the Creek (American) Indian interpreter, diplomat and businesswoman, was born in 1700 to the prestigious Wind Clan of the Creek tribe. Her original Creek name was Cousaponokeesa. She was born in the small settlement of Coweta near the present day Macon, Georgia, U.S.A. The Creek clans trace their lineage through the maternal line. Cousaponokeesa's mother was an esteemed clan matriarch, a sister of Hoboyelty, the civil chief of Coweta, called Emperor Brims by the Europeans. Cousaponokeesa's father is unknown, but the legend has it that he was a Scottish trader. When the Englishman, James Edward Oglethorpe, came to start the British colony of Georgia, he sought out Mary to be his interpreter and adviser. Mary helped Oglethorpe negotiate land treaties with the local tribes, which led to the founding of Savannah in 1733 and of Augusta in 1735 . Mary MusgroveQueen of the Creeks

PADDY CARR

A Coweta Creek leader, interpreter to the Agent at Fort Mitchell. He was the son of Tom Carr an Irish trader among the Indians. Paddy was reared an orphan among the family of Mr. Crowell, the Agent, and served with him to date of the removal of the Indians in 1836. Carr's first born children were twins, Ari and Adne, named to honor the daughter of his youthful friend, Miss Ariadne Crowell, niece of the Hon. John Crowell, the Creek Indian Agent. Carr died in the West after an eventful career there. At one time he owned considerable property in Russell County in Alabama. Served against the Seminoles in Florida in 1836.

Archie McIntosh

Born in Canada, he was one of the greatest Indian scouts of the Old West. He was the son of a Chippewa mother and a Scots father. He was offered a post with General George Crook. He was considered almost superhuman among the tribesmen. After moving to Arizona, he fought in campaigns against the Tonto and San Carlos Apaches. In 1855 Archie McIntosh entered the service of the U.S. Army as a scout. Working with another Scottish-Indian, Donald McKay, he saved a band of U.S. soldiers from a number of Columbia River Native attacks. As one contemporary reporter observed, ‘The whole body of troopers would have been massacred had it not been for the strategy of those two cunning half breeds."

Jesse Chisholm

Scot-Cherokee Indian trader, guide, and interpreter, was born in the Hiwassee region of Tennessee, probably in 1805 or 1806. His father, Ignatius Chisholm, was of Scottish ancestry and had worked as a merchant and slave trader in the Knoxville area in the 1790s. Around 1800 he married a Cherokee woman in the Hiwassee area, with whom he had three sons; Jesse was the eldest. Sometime thereafter Ignatius Chisholm separated from Jesse's mother and moved to Arkansas Territory. Jesse Chisholm was evidently taken to Arkansas by his mother with Tahlonteskee's group in 1810. During the late 1820s he moved to the Cherokee Nation and settled near Fort Gibson in what is now eastern Oklahoma. Chisholm became a trader and in 1836 married Eliza Edwards, daughter of James Edwards, who ran a trading post in what is now Hughes County, Oklahoma. Chisholm took trade goods west and south into Plains Indian country, learned a dozen or so languages, established small trading posts, and was soon in demand as a guide and interpreter. Eventually he interpreted at treaty councils in Texas, Indian Territory, and Kansas.

He was active in Texas for nearly twenty years. While president of the Republic of Texas, Sam Houston,who probably met Chisholm at Fort Gibson between 1829 and 1833, called on him to contact the prairie Indian tribes of West Texas. Chisholm played a major role as guide and interpreter for several Indian groups at the Tehuacana Creek councils beginning in Spring 1843, when he coaxed several tribes to the first council on Tehuacana Creek near the Torrey Brothers trading post eight miles south of the site of present Waco. Over the next year and a half he continued to offer his services to Houston, and on October 7, 1844, Chisholm got Comanches and others to attend a meeting at Tehuacana, where Houston spoke. In February 1846, while visiting the Torreys' post from a trip south of San Antonio, Chisholm was hired to bring Comanche’s to a council at Comanche Peak (Glen Rose today). The meeting was held on May 12. Finally, on December 10, 1850, Chisholm assembled representatives from seven tribes at a council on the San Saba River. At some of these meetings and on trading trips he was able to rescue captives held by the Indians.

By 1858 Chisholm ended his trips into Texas and confined his activities to western Oklahoma. During the Civil War he served the Confederacy as a trader with the Indians, but by 1864 he was an interpreter for Union officers. During the war Chisholm resided at the site of Wichita, Kansas; Chisholm Creek in the present city is named for him. In 1865, Chisholm and James R. Mead loaded a train of wagons at Fort Leavenworth and established a trading post at Council Grove on the North Canadian near the site of present Oklahoma City. Many of his Wichita friends followed, and their route later became the Chisholm Trail, which connected Texas ranches with markets on the railroad in Kansas. Chisholm died of food poisoning at Left Hand Spring, near the site of present Geary, Oklahoma, on April 4, 1868.

Native American Statesman, and Bard of the Creeks Oklahomans, as they peruse the rare poems of the greatest native poet, are privileged to have their lives sweetened by this sentiment. As a political and educational leader, Alexander Posey was excelled by none of his contemporaries. Living during a period when tribal affairs were being concluded, he served his people as only one of incomparable understanding could serve them. Lewis H. Posey, father of Alexander, was Scotch-Irish. He was born in the Indian Territory in that section known as the Creek Country in 1841. He was said to be a man with a jovial disposition. This trait was outstanding in his son, Alexander. Lewis Posey had a knowledge of the English language and of mathematics. He served as United States Marshall at Ft. Smith, Arkansas, before his marriage. The mother of Alex Posey was Pohas Harjo whose English name was Nancy Phillips. She was a full blood Creek of the Wind clan. She married Lewis Posey at the age of fifteen, and Alexander was born during her seventeenth year. The Harjo family is one of the most noted Indian families. It is the oldest family of the Muskogees or Creeks.

Posey made his first contribution to the literary world in the October, 1892, issue. It was the poem, "The Comet's Tale." His next article published was "The Indian: What of Him?" This was followed by "The Sea God", "Death of a Window Plant", "The River Strange", and "Fixico Yahola's Revenge." Posey was elected in 1895 to a seat in the House of Warriors, of the Creek Legislature. He attended all the meetings of the Councils or Conclaves in the Indian Territory where he acted with shrewdness and competency for his tribe. In 1896, Posey was Superintendent of the Creek Nation Orphan Asylum at Okmulgee. The Superintendency of Public Instruction of the Creek Nation was the next public position he occupied. Posey was a scholar of marked ability. This was shown in the selection of books for his library. He was very fond of reading, and while on canoe trips down the Canadian River he read books on Creek anthology. The National High School at Eufaula needed a superintendent, and the people of his tribe persuaded him to serve. Then, after serving satisfactorily in this capacity, he was persuaded to become superintendent of the Wetumpka National School. Following this, he returned to Eufaula to take editorial charge of the Indian Journal. With Drennan C. Scraggs, he took charge of the Creek Enrollment Party of the Five Civilized Tribes, at the request of the Dawes Commission. The wiser men among the tribe thought it best to call a constitutional convention and apply for statehood. Accordingly, they met at Muskogee, August 21, 1905. Posey was made secretary of this body. He formulated in large the constitution and proposed the name "Sequoyah" for the new state. Much credit for the success of Indian Territory is due Posey.

Alexander McKee / White Elk

[died on the Thames River in 1799], civil servant / Indian Department official, son of an Irish trader and a Shawnee/Chouanon woman. Influential British official in the American-British frontier during the post Revolutionary period; lived on the Thames River during the 1790s; named White Elk by the Native leaders he worked with and supported (Allen 1975, 1993; Horsman).

Kahkewaquonaby / Peter Jones

Ojibwa-Welsh Missionary [born at Burlington Heights, January 1, 1802; died at Echo Villa near Brantford, June 28, 1860], Grand River Mississauga/Ojibwa, Eagle clan; son of Tuhbenahneequay [daughter of Wapinose / Wahbansay] and Augustus Jones, Welsh surveyor who worked with chief Wapinose; he lived with Credit River Mississauga chief Captain Jim during the winter of 1811; raised by his mother until he was 14 in traditional Mississauga religious beliefs, lived with his father from 1816 to 1823; baptized in 1820 but converted on June 1, 1823; became a Christian Methodist missionary in 1824; elected to succeed Credit River Mississauga chief Wageezhegonne on January 1, 1829; married Eliza Field from England; on August 17, 1829, he attended a Methodist meeting in Westminster Township; he was superintendent of the Muncey Mission from 1841-1843 and 1848-1849; on August 4, 1845 he was photographed by Hill and Adamson in Edinburgh - he returned to Canada from Scotland in April, 1846; he witnessed Surrenders #58½b, #58½c, #58½d, and #58½e, for schools and churches at Muncey, February 3, 1849; he lived in London from May 18 to July 1849; he bought property near Brantford at Echo Place in 1849, and built a brick home in 1851 (Canada 1891 vol. I: 143-146; Kahkewaquonaby 1860, 1861; Petrone: 36-37; Smith 1987: 203, 213-214, figs.24, 25, 30). 'When I was young a grand feast was made for the purpose of giving me an Indian name, and of dedicating me to the guardian care of some particular god, according to the Indian fashion. I was then named Kahkewaquonaby, which literally means "sacred waving feathers," and refers to feathers plucked from the eagle, the sacred bird. By this name I was dedicated to the thunder god; the eagle being considered by the Indians the representative of the god of thunder' (Kahkewaquonaby 1860).

Thomas McKee

[born c.1770 on the Scioto River; died on October 20, 1814 at Île des Cascades, Lower Canada], Shawnee/ Chaouanon civil servant, son of Alexander McKee and a Shawnee woman; married Theresé, daughter of John Askin, in 1797; leased Pelee Island from the Ojibwa for 999 years in 1788; fought at Fort Recovery in 1794; attended a council with Mohawk Chief Thayedanegea and the Odawa and Ojibwa Nations at Detroit in August 1796; later that year his father appointed superintendent of Indian Affairs of the North West district [Fort St. Joseph]; made a captain of the 60th Regiment of Foot on February 20, 1796; elected to the Upper Canada house of assembly in 1797; became a major in 1807; served as a captain in the Indian Department in 1812-1814; was at the fall of Detroit; died of alcoholism (Allen 1993: 91; Horsman: 150; DCB vol. V.: 535-536).

Mohawk Chief John Norton / Teyoninhokarawen / The Snipe

[born in Scotland, c.1763; died possibly in October 1831 in Mexico], Mohawk/Mingoe soldier / teacher / trader / interpreter / chief; son of a Cherokee from Kuwoki named Norton and a Scottish woman named Anderson, he came to Canada in 1785 with the 65th Regiment of Foot; deserted at Fort Niagara in 1787; appointed Mohawk chief in 1799; visited the Cherokee Nation and the Southern Indians in 1809 and 1810; commanded Ojibwa and Delaware warriors during the War of 1812; took 38 warriors to the fall of Detroit, August 15, 1812; he was at the Battle of Moraviantown [Fairfield], August 5, 1813, and at Queenston Heights, October 13, 1813, and was mentioned in dispatches; married to Delaware Karighwaycagh, his second wife, in 1813; he was at the capture of Fort George by the US, May 27, 1813; he was at the Battle of Stoney Creek, June 5, 1813; at Québec City on February 14, 1814; he was at the Battle of Lundy's Lane in July 1814; he visited England and Scotland with Karighwaycagh in 1815, and returned in 1816 to settle at Brantford; he wounded Big Arrow in a duel over Big Arrow's alleged affair with Karighwaycagh; he was convicted of manslaughter, refused to see her again, and left for Arkansas in 1823; he was replaced as principal spokesman for the Grand River community by Chief Tekarihogen; he was in Laredo, Mexico in 1825; Richardson says that after quarrelling with the Indians, Norton returned to Scotland via Mississippi with Karighwaycagh! (Berton 1981: 66, 83, 243; Casselman: 112; Goltz 1973: 266; Kjellberg: 72; Sugden: 196-200; DCB vol. VI: 152-153, 550-553).

ÌTa-hou-ne-ha-wie-tie/ Adam Brown, Scot-Huron Chief

[born c.1747 in Virginia; died c.1840 probably at Amherstburg], Scot-American child, captured at the age of 8 in Virginia in 1755, adopted into the ruling Deer clan at the Huron village near Detroit, raised on the East shore of the Detroit River opposite Fort Malden, lived at Brownstown [named after him] on the road from Detroit to the Ohio country, Adam Brown became a chief and was named Ta-haw- na-haw-wie-te, he married a Wyandot [maternal grandmother of Peter Dooyentate Clarke], grandfather of Peter Dooyentate Clarke; his Virginia family offered him a part of his father's estate if he would return home, but he chose to remain with the Wyandots; he opposed attacks on whites; Skah-on-wot / Adam Brown, Wyandot chief, invited the Quakers to Upper Sandusky in 1789; Ta-hou-ne-ha- wie-tie, Huron chief, attended a council at Detroit on May 19, 1790, where he signed Surrender #2 [with an Antler totem], south side of Askunessippi [Thames River] from Port Bruce to Windsor; Joseph Brant met Mr. Adam Brown at the Huron Village around September 28, 1794; Brown attended a council at Brownstown, October 11-13, 1794; a Huron named Shokee was hired by George McDougall to murder Brown in July 1795; Ta-hou-ne-ha- wie-tie proposed to move to land adjacent to Malden with most of his village in 1796; on January 22, 1796, McKee reported that Adam Brown was away from Brownstown with most of the Wyandot chiefs, and that he wasn't expected back until the spring of 1797; on April 9, 1797, Chew wrote "Chief Brown is a Person of much consequence with the Indians... he has always been a faithful and firm friend to the British"; Adam Brown, his daughters and grandchildren, retreated in a barge up the Thames River with Proctor's and Tecumseh's forces in 1813, they were overtaken by US cavalry; after the Battle of the Thames they were taken back to Detroit and released; vol. 1840 IT 002; PAC RG10 ser. II vol. 13; Canada 1847, no 19; Canada 1891 vol. I: 1, 42, 113; Blair vol. II: 167; Clarke: 38-39, 53, 66-67, 72-73, 115-116; Cruikshank vol. III: 78, 106, 183, 204, vol. IV: 44, 62-63; Leighton: app. B4; Tanner: 102; MPHSC vol. XX: 470-472, 501, 512, vol. XXV: 63-64; OAHS vol. XIV: 314). "Friend: I received your letter you wrote me and I am very sorry for your doing as sent them Warriors to General Whane without the consent of the Chiefs and all the Indian Warriors. You may think yourselves that you did right, but you did wrong, we see plainly that you will bring them poor people into a Scrape of your doings..."— letter to US sympathizer Isaac Williams from Brownstown, December 3, 1794 (Cruikshank vol. III: 204).

At the 2005 Withlacoochee, Florida Mother's Day Powwow: The Adams siblings, also of Stuart of Bute Scottish heritage, had just been named Native names in honor of their Cherokee and Alabama-Coushatta heritage. Billy Merrill, a Muskogee, presided. Also pictured is Lyn Merrill.

The Celtic hymnsong "Amazing Grace" carries a deep history with these mountain Indians which dates back to the Trail of Tears. As the story goes, many of the Cherokee were so overwhelmed with the reality of what they were being forced to leave behind, moans and wails were all they could offer. In the midst of intense sadness, an old Cherokee man began the first few lines of "Amazing Grace". A sort of peace settled over the men, women, and children. Throughout that horrible ordeal along the trail, with the death of thousands, the singing of that song became a theme to these people. Consequently, the song "Amazing Grace", being sung by those Cherokees who were strong enough to make a noise, were the first sounds to greet the ears of those bystanders who were awaiting the arrival of this relocated Eastern Cherokee into Oklahoma (Trotter, 1997)

The NWC is an all-inclusive 501 (c) (3) charitable benevolent society. The New World Celts is not to be confused with, nor to be associated with and never will be associated with any racist organization. We are very proud of our members of Celtic heritage and equally proud of our members of Native American, African and Asian heritage. We disavow wholeheartedly any connection with or attempts by any racist organization to link themselves to us via the internet or by using our name or symbols to further their own cause. We are very proud to be Americans, Australians, Canadians, and New Zealanders and as such, aspire to the golden ideals of ancient Celts: that all are equals.